Sunday, May 31, 2009

First, I scoured the internet. I had NO IDEA how hard it would be to find Black and White Vinyl tiles. I went to every flooring store in all of Salt Lake County. NOTHING. Lowe's carries it but only at the "midwest" stores. I could have ordered it from them but it was pricey and wold have taken 5-8 weeks to get here. Forget that.

I finally found them at a wholesale website. If I could remember the link I would tell you. So they were a great price, ($9/box, 30 tiles/box) best I could find anywhere. But.... shipping was nuts. The total cost of my tile was about $60. I ordered plenty so that if a tile ever needed to be replaced, I would have plenty left over. Shipping was $100!!! YIKES!!!

They are the peel and stick. Self-adhesive, giant vinyl stickers.

They were here quick, about 5 business days.

Next I tore out the carpet. I did not even break a single fingernail in the process. Which, in my book makes for a very successful project!

Next, just to be sure it stuck well, I primed the floor. I bought a primer at Home Depot. It came in a gallon, I poured it all over the floor and rolled it with a paint roller. Not perfect, just got it on there. In hindsight, I would have done a leveler, which basically levels out your subfloor before you lay your tile. My floor was level, except where the board seams were, they didn't match perfectly, so I wish I would have filled it. But oh well. Not a perfectionist, remember?

Next I laid the tile. I sectioned the room in quarters, finding the middle point and working out.

Peel off the backing, and get it as close and tight to the other tiles.

On edges, I used a piece of paper as a pattern to know how much to cut. Corners, anywhere, make a pattern with paper so it fits snug.

Someday I will lower my baseboards, but not this week.

It took about 30 minutes to lay all the uncut pieces and about 1.5 hours to do all the cut pieces.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Step 1:I roughed it up. On the table top, the paint was really peeling and cracking bad, so I completely sanded that. The legs, sides and drawers, I just sanded lightly.

Step 2: Paint. I choose a blue. I used a brush. Wasn't rocket science.

Step 3: Paint 2-3 coats.

Step 4: I brushed a stain on (dark chocolate brown). I brushed it on the entire piece vanity. After I applied everywhere, I wiped off in the order I applied. I did this twice. I wanted it to take better in the grooves.

Step 5: I was bored. It was so solid and so blue. So I was at Joanne's and found some great paper. Since I heart Mod Podge, it was perfect. I made a pattern with regular paper and used it to cut the scrapbooking paper. The drawers were a piece of cake, the front piece was bigger than the paper, so I had to match the paper the best I could. I put a coat of Mod Podge on the front of the vanity, then on the back of the paper and stuck it on. Waited 30 minutes and applied a coat of Mod Podge to the front. I did 3 coats over the top.

Step 6: I VERY LIGHTLY and with a very LIGHT GRIT sand paper, sanded over the paper.

Step 7: I used the same stain over the paper. Wiped it off. 3 times.

Step 8: I used a spray paint poly top coat, sprayed the whole thing.

Vanity: Free (Thanks Grandma Bird)

Paint: $18

Stain: already had a can, couple bucks?

Top Coat: Already had it (everyone should, same with the stain, so handy) $3

Scrapbooking paper: 3 sheets 3/$1

Time: Total, about 2 hours of work. 3 days including waiting and setting times.

Mirror Before:

I painted it with the same Blue paint. Tape it off. Paint 2 coats. Rubbed same stain on. Sprayed Poly spray paint.

Mirror: Free. These mirrors are so easy to find at garage sales and DI, but this was also Grandma Birds.

Paint & Stain: Same from the table, spray paint works awesome on these mirrors though.